Sunday, September 23, 2012

This weekend we harvested our Winter Squash and Pumpkin patch. We would have waited another week for the squash to mature more, but for thievery. The foliage had mostly died back and apparently somebody thinks it's okay to help themselves without asking. They took at least two Sweet Meat, a couple Buttercup, and ALL FOUR of the Butternut Squash. Bastard! We know it happened sometime this past week because we had counted our Butternuts last weekend. They would have had to really take some time to search for them and cut them. On the positive side, no pumpkins were taken and smashed this year. Overall, it was a great squash year.

The squash trellis made from branches was a success. Amazingly two giant pumpkins grew suspended without any additional support.

The squash trellis covered in foliage earlier this summer.

Definitely looks like fall!

Cinderella Pumpkins hanging on the trellis.

The biggest pumpkin- 42lbs!

The lineup!

Squash curing in the house before storage in the cellar. This is the first year we've grown Spaghetti squash, Sweet Meat squash and Cinderella pumpkins. All three produced really well.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Being a lazy gardener paid off this summer with an amazing discovery. Several weeks ago I noticed that one of my dahlias was getting powdery mildew really bad. I was going to spray it with a baking soda/water mixture, but kept putting it off. Then all the leaves were covered in the thick white mildew. I was going to cut the whole thing back to the ground, but I didn't get around to it. Then, whole sections of the dahlia starting splitting out and flopping on the ground because I never took the time to stake the thing. So, I finally got sick of how horrible it looked and decided to do some pruning to cut off the sections that were laying on the ground.

Dahlia covered in powdery mildew (not very pretty!)

While pruning I noticed these little insects all over the leaves that looked like tiny lady bug larvae. However they were white and not the typical black and orange. Since lady bugs are good, I was conservative with my pruning. A couple days later I noticed that the powdery mildew was disappearing and the larvae were clustering around the worst of the powdery mildew. I was shocked. I googled around and found that there are many different kinds of lady bugs and some eat fungus. I couldn't believe it, I had never heard of such a thing before. It took awhile to find out what type we have, but I'm pretty sure it's a tiny lady bug called the twenty-spotted lady bug (Psyllobora vigintimaculata).

You can see the adult twenty-spotted ladybug in the lower left corner.

I'm so amazed by these little guys. It's a miracle how the powdery mildew has diminished significantly. We even moved some of the larvae onto our squash plants to see if they'll help control the powdery mildew there. We definitely have plenty of it for them to eat. Now I if can only get some regular lady bug larvae to help control the black aphids around here.

We took apart one of the potato towers. The tower was only 18 inches tall (three fence boards high) and it contained Yukon Golds. They filled half of a five gallon bucket. I plopped the bucket on our crappy bathroom scale and it weighed about 13 lbs or so. Not a bad yield from 8 seed potatoes. There were quite a few large potatoes and medium sized ones too. The potatoes were well distributed throughout the tower.

We still have three more towers to disassemble. Two contain Reds and one contains Banana fingerlings. I can't wait to see how those did.

If we do potato towers again next year, we'll put the fourth board on the towers to make them 24 inches tall. Maybe we'll get 25% more potatoes.

It may seem like a lot of work for potatoes, but they sure taste a heck of a lot better than the ones in the grocery store.

Friday, August 3, 2012

When I shop for seeds, I look at the packets and get enticed by the beautiful photos and lovely descriptions. I envision the little seeds growing in my garden and maturing into the beautiful or tasty plant I read on the packet it would become. Well sometimes the seeds in the packet are not what is advertised.

I bought these Basil seeds.

They grew into this Basil (tiny leaves on little plants).

I bought these Pumpkin seeds (note "Bush Type").

I was really looking forward to Pumpkins on a compact plant that wouldn't take over. However, the plant is as vigorous or more than our vining winter squash. The vines are already 8 feet long and growing into my dahlias and zinnias. "Bush Type?" I think not.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Here's a sampling of the seeds we planted recently to ensure we have a fall harvest.

I finally picked my first ripe cherry tomato today (August 2nd). It's hard to believe that we've been planting fall crops the past couple of weeks when our warm season crops haven't produced much yet.

The key to growing fall harvest crops is planting at the correct time in fertile soil to ensure that the vegetables can grow and mature before cold weather and short days set in. Slow growing crops that take 70 to 100 days such as cabbage and cauliflower need to be planted in late June or early July. You can get around this by buying starts. Good nurseries such as Gardensphere sell fall vegetables starts for a very short period of time (the last week of July to the first week of August). Quick growing crops that take 25 to 55 days to mature such as radishes, arugula, bok choy, spinach, and lettuce can be planted throughout August. These are easy to plant from seed which are also available at Gardensphere. I love planting from seed in the summer because they germinate so quickly in the warm soil. The only drawback is that you have to be careful to water consistently and not let the little sprouts dry out.

Kale and Purple Broccoli are super hardy and can be planted in the fall and will overwinter and mature in late February or March. Garlic can be planted in October and will be ready to harvest in late May or June.

Over the past several years, I've really enjoyed growing fall and winter cool season crops because mother nature usually takes care of the watering and there are fewer pests to contend with during the cool months. It also gives you a reason to get out and into the garden during those short daylight hours.

Monday, July 30, 2012

The Garden has kept us busy this last half of July. We harvested out most of the spring crops and the summer crops are growing quickly, but not quite producing yet. We also planted seeds for fall crops, such as cabbage, broccoli, beets, arugula, carrots, and spinach.

We pulled the beets in mid-July...

And we harvested the Kohl rabi.

Kohl rabi roots make for a wild beard.

We boiled some beets.

Our neighbors loaned us a juicer- so we made raw beet, kohl rabi and carrot juice. Terry promptly made some coffee after taking a swig. I diluted it heavily with apple/cranberry juice and managed to drink a glass... followed by a nice cup of coffee.

Rutabaga (Swede)

Weird looking Rutabaga.

Tomato plants are lush, but no ripe tomatoes yet.

I refreshed the gravel paths with "#4 to dust" from Erin Rockery. Much better than the "5/8 minus" we used the first time. Packs down firmer, although dusty when dry.

Hungarian Wax Pepper

Eggplant Millionaire (Thanks Randy!)

Tomatillo plants are 5 feet tall and flowering like crazy.

A great year for blueberries; raspberries have been awesome; blackberries are terrible this year. Bacon loves to pick raspberries with us. We are picking blueberries only when the puppy is distracted to avoid teaching him to eat all the blueberries.

Terry replaced the rotten boards on the picnic table- making it an 8 footer instead of a 6. Puppy has already gnawed one of the seat corners.

The squash and pumpkins vines are taking over the trellis and everything else nearby.

Concord grapes are growing nicely.

My first Artichoke

The prettiest Calendula this year.

We've stored away a bunch of carrots, beets, kohl rabi, and cabbages in our basement refrigerator. I also cured a bunch of garlic and have them hanging in the basement. The onions still aren't totally mature, but close. The tops have laid over on the Wallas and the others aren't far behind, although a number of red onions bolted and I had to pull and refrigerate them.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Many of our cool season crops are winding down. Peas are slowing down and getting powdery mildew. Turnip, Beets and Kohlrabi are starting to bolt and need to be picked and processed. Some cabbage heads are ready. Carrots are ready to harvest. Garlic is ready. And we've been picking onions as we need them. It won't be long and they will mature and be ready to store. This weekend, some of the beds will look empty as we harvest out a bunch of stuff and plant a new round of cool season crops for fall harvest.

Our first and only birdhouse gourd plant is starting to flower.

Winter squash & pumpkins are growing rapidly now except for the butternut squash which is always slow to get going.

Terry is admiring his corn patch.

Tassels are emerging on the early planting of Trinity corn.

Dahlias are blooming nicely.

The vegetative growth on the early gold potatoes is dying back.

The artichokes plants add texture to an otherwise floriferous display of calendula, nasturtiums, and dahlias.

Monday, July 9, 2012

So far we've found that it's easier to just grab potatoes from the ones we planted in hilled up rows. This is due to the fact that we're often too lazy to go get the screw gun to take the boards off the boxes. The Yukon Golds are the first plants to start dying back, so they are our earliest. We've gotten some nice sized potatoes from those plants. The reds are coming along nicely as well.

About Me

I've worn many hats in the landscape horticulture industry doing everything from garden maintenance, container gardening, nursery sales, to garden design.
I'm passionate about small urban gardens and edible gardens.
My husband's stomach has played a great part in cultivating my interest in kitchen gardening. A good Southern boy, who considers himself an urban farmer, he has a passion for all things edible and has strong building, shoveling, and pest squishing skills... great assets in this endeavor.